We’re pretty confident that if you turn on the television tonight and tomorrow and tune in ESPN3 or ESPN2, you’ll see a genuine local celebrity: Rachael Cundey.

The rising Lakeside High School freshman this week is competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The bee had elimination rounds Tuesday and today, but you’d be making a safe bet that Cundey will be in the finals.

She’s been there before.

In fact, it’s hard to fathom that she has won every school bee, every county bee and every regional bee since she was old enough to compete. For an unprecedented five years in a row, Cundey has earned the trip to Washington, D.C. to compete for the national title, coming in tied for 10th place last year. Of the 281 spellers this year, Cundey and another eighth-grader from Kentucky are the only five-time competitors. That’s downright jaw-dropping.

People who marvel at Cundey’s success sometimes understandably ask, “Yeah, she can spell, but how is she in math?” Well: How about getting the high average for every one of her classes – including accelerated math? She’s already looking forward to the academic challenges in high school.

This is one smart young lady. Even more so, she’s representing Columbia County for positive reasons, and we couldn’t imagine a better example for our children.

That’s also the best reason we can think of to let them stay up to watch TV.